Cricket 1913

J u ly 5, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 381 county man, heading the score sheet with a vigorous 49. Sefton would undoubtedly have lost but for the great effort made by the above mentioned pair, as they came together when two wickets had fallen cheaply, and put on no fewer than 146 for the third wicket. Liverpool played R o ;k Ferry at Rock Park, and were beaten by 41 runs. It was a most exciting game, as Liverpool’s tenth wicket was taken off the last ball of the concluding over of the match. R. A. Lloyd (46) .and W. N. Tod (47*) led the way in batting for Liverpool, whilst A. F. Spooner played attractively for 23. Scores: Rock Ferry 213; Liverpool 172. Litherland beat Bromboro Pool 2nd chiefly owing to accurate bowling by Sefton, who kept a capital length against a stiff breeze ; and in a lesser degree to the vigorous batting of Johnson, Kerr and Mountain. Scores: 121 for 7 and 61. Waterloo Park easily prevailed over Sutton, owing mainly to the effective leg-break bowling of Wilson (7 for 17). Scores : 90 for 5 to 44. Parr for the Park compiled a breezy 41. There is much rivalry in this city between the various firms engaged in the Shipping, Cotton and Corn Trades, etc. ; and an interesting game took place on Saturday between the employees j of the well known Booth Steamship Co. and Ralli Bros., ending in a victory for the former by 5 wickets and 50 runs, principally owing io a dashing effort of R. D. Dawkins, who compiled 118. Ralli’s great man was F. Walker, who notched 51 not out. Scores: 164 for 5 to 113. -------- is---------- Cricket Chirps. (B y E. H. D. S e w e ll.) I had a charming letter the other day from the old Harrovian T . S. Sidney, the author of the title of this weekly chatter and of “ W . G. up-to-date,” a carefully-compiled brochure which he published some twenty years ago at Ootacamund. More of this keenest of the keen later; for the instant Thomas Hayward is the man. It w as a great moment for blue-eyed Tom that one on Friday afternoon last, when he completed the hundredth of a series of great three-figure innings; a long, long time must pass before a professional cricketer experiences another such. Had Charles Fry been playing this season I would have backed him to follow in W . G .’s footsteps, not before Tom, of course; that would be too much to ask him, 8 to 1 in fact a g a in st; but in such a year he would have “ come home alone,” as the saying is, once he had made up his mind about it. This hundredth three-figure punch has probably upset Tom ’s gam e a bit this season. It is only natural that it should. When your knees begin to protest at doing their legitimate work, then it becomes a case of wondering about such matters. I write from experience, one of my knees having struck for shorter hours and less weight some time since. But Tom has two to cajole. Still he has overcome them to the extent of achieving a very great performance indeed. It would have been prettier if he had waited until this week to collect the hundredth in the Kent match, as it w as in that game he pouched the first of the series. At least I am told so, but am no hand at statistics. We shall not be long in knowing whether he has played an innings of every figure from one to a hundred, there w as a lot of trouble over a missing link of this kind in W. G .’s chain, w asn’t there? But the Old Man did it. It would be a great thing if W . G. and Tom Hayward could g o in first together next year when the big game is played at headquarters to celebrate the centenary of the Club p . Lord’s. A pity we can ’t have old Alfred Shaw and Tom Richardson to open the bowling to them, or Johnny Briggs and Lohmann. Still, SpofTorth and Kortright would be an interesting pair to start the fun. But I am looking ahead— Perhaps a bit too far. I wonder which of the hundreds old Tom thinks his best? ose who have “ got a fe w ” in their time generally have a favourite or two. Peculiarities of Tom ’s game have been us susceptibility to the leg-break, his almost complete immunity against giving chances in the slips (although he was out caught second slip in the next innings after his 100th), and the fact that when clean bowled he is generally bowled playing outside her. I should call his best stroke that placing one between short-leg and mid-on, which has brought him heapsof runs. If at the beginning of an innings Tom was not bringing this one off, you could generally pre­ dict that he was not going to get many. But if on the other hand he began well in this quarter you might bet on a good score. He plays the stroke with firmer precision than anyone else I have ever seen. So certain does he seem of doing what he is trying to do that the stroke almost resembles a plain straightaway forward push in the direc­ tion named instead of between mid-off and extra cover. From the region of point Tom has made history on at 'east one occasion. It w as from backward point that during the lull after K ing (J. H.) had hit the ball twice, and nobody quite knew what to say, that Tom ventured a mild : “ How w as that, umpire? ” The man in the white coat appealed to didn’t a bit like the responsibility, for before replying he went over to his mate and asked what he thought about it. Said mate was much more decided. “ H e ’s got to g\o,” was what he said, in an undertone. Whereupon the judge stalked back to his proper place and lifted the seemingly necessary finger. Tom was a jolly good bowler, and has got wickets this I year. But not for Surrey, though he could not have pitched a worse length than some of the stuff I have seen at the Oval this season— no, not even if he had bowled left-handed ! T. S. Sidney is now going strong at Antigua as Attorney- General, or something of that sort. They take in C ric k e t there, so are well up to date. As who would not be with such a Governor as Hesketh-Bell ? He has done even more for cricket in six months than did Chief Justice Udal before him, and, goodness knows, Udal was keen enough. But— I remember hearing something about it at the time— a mis­ take was made in mixing the only white man’s club and allowing country-born and others in. What did Kipling write? “ East is East and,” etc., etc.— everyone knows the rest, and those who have travelled can prove the inviolable truth of what Kipling wrote. There are, or were, two very likely all-rounders in Antigua, L. Camacho, a Portuguese, who went to New York and there played against the Aus­ tralians, and A. Shepherd, who went to the Fiji Islands as Private Secretary to the Governor, and he also played against the Australians, on their homeward trip. It is good to hear of the game goin g strong in such remote regions. It would seem absurd to write a few notes on cricket and, having seen it, not mention an individual innings of over 200. And such a one as Johnny Tyldesley’s at the Oval, to o ! His cutting was glorious, as crisp as the heart of the best lettuce— you can’t beat that. These days of pokey dab strokes anywhere in the direction of third man, it was a genuine treat to see the ball properly thumped in that quarter. And Johnny only wants twenty hundreds or so to follow in Hayward’s wake. Had he, like Hayward, played most of his time on southern wickets, Johnny would have got there ere this. For he has always taken risks Hayward never would have looked at. The good ’un who goes for runs is bound to get more hundreds, though he may have a smaller aggregate, than the good ’un who travels on the slow but sure tack. Mark this, all ye who will be reading C r ic k e t in 1922 J or thereabouts : Jack Hobbs will be the No. 3 in the list of a Hundred Hundreds, assuming always Charles Fry has given it up ! — ------------ S t i l l they come ! Mr. William Harding, of Putney, is another subscriber from the first to add to my list. He has every number of the paper, and they are all filed in order for reference.